The Red Shed specializes in French Chic Antiques and Travel. We have owned a travel agency for almost 30 years and a French Chic Antique store for 10 years. Our Paris & Provence Flea Market Shopping Trips are a culmination of these two Passions. Each Spring and Fall we take a group of 10 lucky ladies to Paris or Provence, for a Vintage Shopping Trip of a Lifetime! The Blog below chronicles our adventures in France. If you would like to join one of our trips just visit RedShedOnline.com or call 817-310-6006 for more information.To follow our adventures outside of France and in real time, visit our Blog RedShedAntiques.blogspot.com

Tuesday, September 15, 2009

Paris Flea Market Shopping Trip ** Day 6

Paris is just so vast and amazing that it is easy to have fabulous discoveries right outside your door, that you might not even know about. Today we took a tour in the Latin Quarter guided by Ex-Pat, Richard Nahem, who owns Eye Prefer Paris Tours. and Eye Prefer Paris Cooking Classes.Richard promote "the Paris that Tourists never see", and he certainly did not disappoint. We entered a small gate, right in the middle of a residential district and descended a lovely stair case, that ensconced this beautiful headless statue.

What looked like a garden, opened up into a Roman stone Colosseum! At one time this Colosseum held up to 15000 people. Over the years, parts of it were dismantled and used for wall fences around Paris....But even the gates that they kept the Lions behind remain!

If that wasn't a big enough shock to find in the middle of Paris, our next stop was at a beautiful Mosque...

We were not able to take photos of the indoor prayer rooms, but these enclosed gardens were just fabulous!

A few more steps filled with lovely architecture, window boxes filled with flowers and amazing ornamental iron.........and our next stop was the lovely botanical gardens, conservatory, and zoology museums. 69 acres right in the middle of the Latin Quarter!

These were glass conservatories with an opalescent glow.

As our walk continued, around every corner, the smallest detail would tickle us!

We ended our walk in a lovely park, and a view of the Pantheon.

The afternoon was for free time, and it was well spent! Kim, Jana, and Joy went with Jodie to score some beautiful new luggage and purses....

After everyone was rested up and cleaned up we headed to our deluxe farewell dinner cruise aboard Bateaux Parisian...........

Of course, we had the best table in the house. We were again serenaded........

We relaxed and enjoyed the gorgeous scenery....

And danced the night away..........

We arrived back at port, directly under a sparkling Eiffel Tower. The perfect ending to a perfect day and a wonderful trip. Click to see it sparkle!